Partners
by Aisho9
Summary: When Sully asked for something permanent, Brennan rebelled ... now Booth is asking for the same thing. Will he succeed, or will he fare no better than Sully?


All right. This one begins with the Sully debacle, but it ends a few months after "The Parts of the Sum of the Whole" episode. I chose Sully as a comparison because while in many ways, Brennan was refusing to take a chance then, I also think she was making a bet on Booth. Throughout the Sully thing there's times when Brennan is blantantly comparing Sully and Booth, and I think that's an important thing to realize -- what is she risking by staying where she is? But Sully also works as proof of her personality, to show what sort of effort would need to be exerted to break her out of that pattern. This is of course only my opinion about what went on, and I'd need to write an essay to prove it, but for now, suffice to say I'm comparing Sully to Booth too. Same situation ... different results -- because Booth didn't go off on a boat when he was turned down. He came back for seconds and thirds [in my world, haha; that's not canon ... yet] and showed her that he's not going anywhere.

Whew. Long explanation. Probably you don't need it. :)

0~0~0~0~0

Her words echoed in his mind, etching them deep. _"He wants me to go with him."_

His eyes shifted slowly from the churning dirt to her face, and very suddenly he felt his heart go cold, thumping painfully and slowly in his breast. He'd never known a feeling like this; so desperate, so torn, that he couldn't function. He managed a grunt that sounded partially like an "oh," and she looked down at the grave dirt with him, frowning. Then he realized _why_ she'd told him. God hated him; he was positive of it now. "You ... you should go."

"You think so?" Tempe asked, blue eyes worried and confused and a hundred other things that he couldn't quite name. He felt a brief surge of pain, and then he knew his heart had truly been trampled upon; it was clear now that she meant to leave with him.

And being Bones, that meant she got second and third opinions about it.

He glanced at her again, sucking in his gut and stuffing away his emotions. _One foot in front of the other, soldier, _he thought, and said aloud despite the long silence, "Yeah. Yeah, you should go."

He'd never been so grateful to see a dead person in all his life.

Tempe stood silently beside Sully, watching Booth, marveling once more how good he was at this. For all that he talked like a rookie, and acted like one too, he somehow always managed to get them to talk -- or talk enough so that they could fit in the next piece of the puzzle. Always. She was Death, and he was Life. Order and Chaos. Yin and yang. Man and woman.

She crossed her arms to keep Sully from seeing her hands shaking. She'd made her decision; she'd made it when Booth had told her to go. Something in his face -- she couldn't quite pinpoint it, but in that long silence before he'd told her to go, she'd heard something else. Something that told her to stay, that going would break apart something so fragile and new that it hadn't even had a chance to be born yet.

Decision aside -- there was something special about Sully. Something indefinite that caught her attention. She'd never enjoyed being with anyone so much before, not counting Booth and Angela. She wasn't sure if she loved him, but it was close. Very close. And that made telling him that she wasn't going all the harder.

She wished Booth was there to help her.

The wind ruffled her hair softly, as if to say _You did right, now breathe easy ..._ But there was a queer sadness at watching him leave, with her name painted elegantly across the back. There wasn't any pain, like the novels said there would be, just sadness. Everything she'd ever read about love said that it would hurt like a knife to the ribs, but it didn't.

Either they were lying -- or she really hadn't loved him.

She turned to leave, and her heart leapt in her chest when she realized, with a start, that Booth was standing behind her, a stoically stubborn look on his face. His brown eyes looked at her, soft and amused, as if waiting for her to send him off. "What are you doing here, Booth?"

"Waving goodbye," Booth said off-handedly, shrugging.

"What are you doing here?" Tempe repeated, knowing a lie when she saw one. In response he threw an arm around her shoulders, tugging her against him, and Tempe fought with herself, battling a war of combined sadness and the light-heartedness that came with seeing Booth. He was rambling on about something or another, about giving it time, but she hadn't been listening. "You didn't want me to leave, did you?" Tempe said suddenly, looking up at his face. There; just for a moment, that curiously steeled expression flew back into his eyes, but it was gone again in an instant.

"Of course not, Bones," Booth said airily. "You're my partner."

He wasn't at all sure, though, how long that particular lie would last.

SEVERAL YEARS ONWARD

Royal Diner. The back table, laminate top, right by the window, as per usual. Six o'clock. Seven. Maybe later. The waitress on call was going to shoo them out an hour ago, but the girls, they've been talking about these two for years. The FBI agent and the scientist. And they're sitting there, in the diner, and the waitress on call—her name is Emily but she tells everyone that it's Jezebel—can't help but feel like she's witnessing a real-life soap opera.

Katie finishes cleaning up the back and comes to stand with Emily behind the counter, far enough away from the table that they're not intruding, but close enough so they can still see and hear, too. They figure if they're staying on shift late they might as well get something out of it.

"Did I miss anything?" Katie whispers. Emily shakes her head. Right now they just sitting there, leaned in close, staring at one another—like they have been for a full five minutes. You'd think they'd feel awkward and look away or something. Not these two. They have nerves of steel. Emily envies them that; she always blushes to her roots (which she's going to have to get touched up soon) whenever someone stares at her.

A cell phone goes off, and it sounds like its coming from the two at the back table, but neither move to answer it. Once it stops ringing, the scientist, Dr. Brennan, the one who wrote all those books, says, "You're only going to get hurt."

"I'm hurting now," replies Agent Booth, who Katie and Emily know because Dr. Brennan dedicated a book to him. (They read all Dr. Brennan's books.)

"You can't wait forever."

"I've already waited six years. I can wait a little longer."

Dr. Brennan looks at Agent Booth very stern, like she's been trying to convince him to come round for a very long time, but he still won't budge. Emily rather thinks Dr. Brennan is turning out to be a yellow-livered coward.

"She should at least try," Emily says in a whisper. "All relationships worth having are a gamble."

Katie hisses at her to be quiet.

"What if I move to Bulgaria tomorrow and never come back?" asks Dr. Brennan.

"I would follow," replies Agent Booth.

"_North_ Korea."

"I'd still follow," Agent Booth insists. "You seem to be forgetting that I was a Ranger. I would manage. This isn't going to be something you can run away from, Bones. I'm telling you here, now, that I'm not changing my mind any time soon."

"Soon? Or never?"

"God, what do you want, a contract?" Emily bursts out, and everyone looks at her, astonished. Emily finds she's too irritated to care that she's interrupted someone's private conversation. "Where's the fun in absolutes?"

Taking up her thread, Agent Booth adds, "If there weren't a risk, it wouldn't be worth it."

Dr. Brennan is looking as if they're all ganging up on her, and when Emily realizes even the cook is come out to watch, she thinks perhaps Dr. Brennan is right. Well, it's her own fault; Emily and Katie and all the rest have worked at the Royal Diner for too long to be denied a happy ending.

"All I'm asking is for you to try, Bones," Agent Booth says, almost begging. It's unpleasant watching a man like that beg. Dr. Brennan looks uncomfortable, now that she knows she has an audience, but under Emily's raised eyebrows, she finally speaks.

"No."

Agent Booth recoils and looks generally crushed. Emily's afraid he's going to cry. Dr. Brennan says, "I'll try sex, though. I still thinks it's a bad idea. I think we're going to end up more hurt than when we start. But I'll try just for tonight."

"I won't sleep with you unless you're my girlfriend," Agent Booth says with great dignity.

"Then I'll be your girlfriend for tonight," Dr. Brennan retorts, "but just for tonight."

At first Emily thinks this is as bad as saying no, until Agent Booth's eyes start sparkling and a smile turns his lips and he says, "I only need a night, Bones."

Emily believes him. He looks like the sort of man who could perform miracles, ten cents a pop. If he were smiling at Emily like that he wouldn't even need an hour.

They leave, and the waitresses at the Royal Diner close up. Katie and Emily don't talk about it. They're waiting to see if Agent Booth is really a magic-man. Trouble is that Emily has a family thing the next week, so by the time she gets back to work, things have happened, mountains have moved, seas have parted. Katie fills her in while they wait for the cook to finish plating some burgers.

"_Obviously_ I don't know what all happened that night," says Katie, "but what I do know is, they both look cloud-nine happy."

Emily finally gets to see for herself the next day, on the late shift. She's pouring coffee when they come in. They aren't with their posse; they just come in and take their table at the back by the window. Before Emily can get over to take their orders she notices Agent Booth reach across and tidy up Dr. Brennan's hair, not like it's messy, but like he just wants to touch her. She doesn't shy away or even look startled. She's tinkering with her cell phone like nothing weird even happened.

"What can I get you?" Emily asks, when she can finally get over to them, and Agent Booth orders a slice of pie. Emily looks at Dr. Brennan. "And for your girlfriend?"

They both look at her, and then at one another. They don't deny it.


End file.
